Pokémon Diamond and Pearl has several references to Something Awful as a result of Nob Ogasawara, one of the series' lead translators, frequenting the forums under the pseudonym Douglas Dinsdale. For example, a female trainer with a Wooper is named "Roxy" after the name chosen for the main character of Chorocojo's Let's Play of Pokémon Crystal that decided to get rid of her Totodile because it was evil, and replaced it with a Wooper. Also, after you fight an Artist trainer, he tells you he's been inspired to paint a picture called "My Pokémon is Fight!", a reference to Zack Parson's book My Tank Is Fight!

The references are still there for Pokémon Black and White: In that Let's Play from Crystal, Roxy finds a Pikachu and names it Gesundheit. The only non-Unova Pokémon before the National Pokédex is a NPC Pikachu in Castelia City, more specifically in the Name Rater's house. The name? Gesundheit.

Nob Ogasawara has actually been part of the translation teams of the franchise from the beginning to Platinum, but Diamond and Pearl was the first time he actually started putting memes into the translation.

Even in Pokémon X and Y, it's possible there's reference to Chorocojo; this time to Platinum, which Nob actually actively commented in. It's not impossible that the first Gym Leader of Kalos, who uses Bug-types, is named Viola after Lady's signature Kricketune.

At Dragonspiral Tower, as you get closer to the top, you can hear things going crazy and someone is shouting "Burn, baby, burn!"

There is also an old lady who tells the player character that she doesn't have any stairs in her house, a Shout-Out to an IRC prank-cum-sign/countersign which was popular on the forums for a while.

In Diamond and Pearl the receptionist at the Team Galactic HQ exclaims "Cosmic energy for the win!"

The Pokémon series in general, but Diamond and Pearl especially, reference the also-developed-by-Game Freak Pulseman. The St. Anne (English's S.S. Anne), Volt Tackle (named for Volteccer, which was in turn named for Voltekka), and even the main villains of Diamond and Pearl are shout outs, as is the Pokémon Rotom. There's also that one point in the original games where, upon viewing an SNES console, you're told it's a game featuring Mario with a bucket on his head.

Beauty Nevah in XD has a Cacnea and a Chimecho on her team, and her introduction speech says that there's someone else out there with those two Pokémon. That statement isn't true anymore, but since this was a Generation III game, she was talking about James.

Gold and Silver has Earl, the strangely-speaking Pokémon teacher in Violet City, asking "want to be a winner is you?". HeartGold and SoulSilver, meanwhile has your rival ask "Why so serious?" when sending out his last Pokémon.

In the French localization of Crystal, the three Sages that test your worthiness to enter the Tin Tower are named Ken, Shuu, and Raoh.

We also get Sailor Eugene, who has a Krabby. Spongebob's boss, Mr. Krabs, is named Eugene.

In the French version of Pokémon Gold and Silver, a NPC trainer near Tohjo Falls will say, after being defeated: "Enfant du Soleil, tu parcours la terre le ciel, cherche ton chemin, c'est ta vie c'est ton destin". Those are the first lines of the French version of The Mysterious Cities of Gold's opening song.

They had been leaning this way for a while, but in X and Y, Black Belts have a design that can be summed up as "what if Ryu was a Pokemon character?"

MOTHER shout outs are a recurring trend in the series, with examples present as far back as the original Red and Blue. The involvement of Creatures, Inc. on the series may have something to do with it.

Similarly, compare Red and Ness. Both are preteen Heroic Mime protagonists of modern/urban based JRPG's (rather than medieval times/fantasy). Both are Primary Color Champions with caps, backpacks, and bicycles. Both have to collect 8 Plot Coupons over the course of the game. Both have a friend/jerk next door neighbor who after showing up in random places throughout the adventure ends up being part of the Final Boss battle. In what may be a subtle nod to this, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, after Ness courageously sacrifices himself to save Lucas, Lucas immediately teams up with the similarly confident and heroic Pokemon Trainer.

Pokémon Black and White hits MOTHER 3 in particular: the Waitress trainer class bears a strong resemblance to Tazmily villager Tessie, Drilbur (who strongly resembles the Mischievous Mole enemy) evolves into Excadrill (a mole with drill hands like Reconstructed Mole), there is a Dark/Dragon line, and the song "N's Farewell" contains note for note a portion of the Mother 3 Love Theme, as well as fragments of "Letter to You, My Sweet."

HeartGold/SoulSilver adopted a quirky self-referential style of humour which reminds one somewhat of the MOTHER series' humour style.

In X and Y, there's a man in a Center remarks about a game he's been playing recently, where you play as a boy that goes around beating up enemies to the beat of music. It could be referencing HarmoKnight or MOTHER 3.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen, especially the former, have a strong resemblance to Baragon.

Hydreigon seems to have a purposeful resemblance to King Ghidorah, both sharing a very destructive nature and having the same basis in the Yamata no Orochi.

Larvesta and Volcarona have passing resemblances to both the Larva and Imago forms of Mothra respectively, and the latter is even named Ramoth in the German translation, being a rather obvious anagram.

The Dark (Evil in Japan) type is weak against Bug and Fighting. Ledian, Pawniard and Bisharp also bear a good resemblance to tokusatsu heroes.

To build on music references, in Pokémon Black and White 2, the guitarist of Roxie's band is named Billy Jo. The band is also a three member band with a guitarist and a bassist providing vocals. It should be mentioned though, that said guitarist is female.

The Poison-themed Gym featuring a rock band is a bit of a pun referencing the band Poison.

Speaking of Gym Music in B2W2, there's Elesa's Gym theme: when she makes her entrance, and the traditional Gym tune kicks in, you can hear that the soundfont used borrows some vocal bits from "Dancer In The Street"note (Heard when fighting Pig Noise.).

In Generation II and IV, there are three Bug Catchers on Route 2, named Rob, Doug, and Ed.

There are a pair of Bug Catchers, fought as a double battle in Gen IV, who share their names with the Everly Brothers.

In Black and White 2, there are two Black Belts named Rocky and Drago in Seaside Cave, who use Roggenrola and Scrafty, respectively.

Ghetsis faces down Gym Leader Clay, a sheriff strongly reminiscent of John Wayne, with a small army to demand the return of his imprisoned gang members. That's the plot of the John Wayne classic Rio Bravo.

One of the battlers in the Battle Tower is named Bug Catcher Tajiri. The creator of Pokemon is Satoshi Tajiri, who says that he based Pokemon on his childhood pastime of bug catching.

At the Village Bridge in Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2, you can find an Artist named Gough, whose only Pokemon is a Sunflora. The reference is made more blatant in Japanese, where his name is Vincent.

Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre's "Primal Reversion" transformation was triggered in the past by absorbing massive amounts of "nature's energy", which gave them a massive increase in power, in addition to unique markings and physical transformations to their body. Sounds like Groudon and Kyogre were the first to use Sage Mode.

Fire Blast explodes in the shape of, and in the Japanese version is named after, the Daimonji, the climax of the Japanese Bon Festival.

Cyrus's goal was to create a universe where emotions were a thing of the past because they caused violence, where logic and order were the rule, and, looking at his followers, where bowlcuts are as far as the eye can see. Combine that with the overall space/sci-fi look of Team Galactic and his inspiration seems obvious.

In episode 14 of X and Y Serena becomes convinced the mansion they're in is alive and eats people. After seeing pictures of an old woman in it she's adds to that theory the woman's ghost is possessing the house. Both of these are references to the film Monster House, with Serena's imagine spot even looking like the titular house in the film.

The contraption AJ put on his Sandshrew is a reference to the 1960s baseball anime Kyojin no Hoshi.

In the Japanese version of "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Garden" James says "Tornado!" before striking a baseball pitcher pose and says a wind storm caused by Ash's Pidgeotto is like Nomo Hideo, a reference to a Japanese baseball player whose nickname was "Tornado".

In "Electric Shock Showdown" Jessie does a cheer pose similar to the protagonist of Aa! Hana No Ouendan.

In the episode, "The Pi-Kahuna", the Japanese name for the giant wave, Humunga-Dunga, is "Big Tuesday", a reference to the 1978 surfing movie Big Wednesday, and the Japanese names for Jan, Puka, and Victor are Jan, Michael, and Vincent, respectively, each named after the film's star, Jan-Michael Vincent.

In Pokémon XYZ episode 42, Ash-Greninja used its heightened sense to pinpoint Chespie inside the Megalith Zygarde and marked the crystal part as the main target, similar to the Byakugan of Naruto.

In Pokémon XYZ episode 43, Squishy and Z2 gathering all Zygarde cells inside planet earth on one spot and combining into Zygarde Complete Forme is a direct reference of doing a spirit bomb and fusion from Dragon Ball Z.

In Pokémon XYZ episode 43, Zygarde's complete form does an attack that looks almost identical to Giga Drill Breaker.

The first Sun and Moon opening has a punching scene that is very similar to the end of of One-Punch Man's opening.

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